To Believe in a Ghost
by agent000
Summary: Who doesn't enjoy a good ghost story? I personally adore the supernatural realm, and so I've written these ghost stories that take place in the FMA realm. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
1. Chapter 1

A candle burning in the night, flickering it's eerie way across the wooden nighttime walls, the scratching of a pen against paper, held without hands, and a disembodied sobbing emanating from somewhere within the mansion. This is my life. This is what it's been for the past eighty years.

People say that this house I live in is haunted, but I have always begged to differ. No, it's not haunted...merely, occupied. I reside here. While my life has ceased to be, I have not. I continue to exist, and I continue to exist here. It is a part of me, and I do not yet wish to leave, if I ever do. This was where I spent the last years of my life, and this was where I spent the last day. My bones yet lie undisturbed in the basement along with the bloody knife that robbed me of my life. No one has dared to move it, for I have forbidden anyone to go near.

I never thought I could ever move on, ever let go of the past. I had figured that I would be bound here forever. I had so many loose ends to tie up that could never be tied. So many rights to wrong, so many apologies to make, there was absolutely no way I could go on from here, so I just remained where I was, right in this mansion, and waited.

Then one day, I heard a voice I wasn't familiar with. "Hello? Is anybody here?" I put down the pen I had been writing with and stood up. Who had dared to enter this house, especially with the reputation of it being haunted? The curiosity had gotten the better of me, and I stood up to go and seek out the voice.

I soon found the trespasser, who turned out to be a young girl who couldn't have been more than ten or twelve. She was alone, all alone in this house, and she had a terrified look in her eyes as tears rushed down her face. She hadn't seen me, or that facial expression probably would've changed to one of horror, but I was curious to know what had bothered her so much as to drive her here.

The young girl continued to look around, as if looking for any sign of life in this house, though there was none. Even with all the writing I had done all these years, the dust remained undisturbed. She did seem a little bothered though when she noticed how much dust was covering the pages while at the same time, the ink wasn't yet dry. The child began to visibly shake.

"So it's true," she said aloud, "This place is haunted...p-please...whoever you are...please don't hurt me."

I decided that now was as good a time as any to reveal myself. I placed myself in front of her and rested my hands gently on her shoulders. "Look at me," I said, softly. She startled and cautiously looked up, fear evident in her eyes. I smiled a weak smile and said, "Please, don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Now, will you tell me why you're here? No one ever comes in here."

The girl remained transfixed in that position for what seemed like hours to me, though I knew it was because I had no concept of time, and then finally choked back what looked like a sob trying to escape. "I-I just..." Her voice trailed off.

I knelt down, figuring that maybe my standing over her was disturbing her somewhat, and encouraged her to continue. She swallowed and began again. "I just...needed someone to talk to...and I figured that...maybe you would listen...since I doubted that...that anyone ever came to you." At this explanation, the floodgates burst on her and she began sobbing profusely. I felt helpless to do anything for her, so I simply wrapped my arms around her and cradled the poor child in my arms until she was able to stop her crying.

After some time had passed, I wasn't sure how much, I finally let her go and looked into her sad, dark eyes. "Now, what is it that you so badly need someone to talk to about?"

The child looked like she was about to start crying again, so I braced myself to again put my arms around her, but she stopped herself and looked into my eyes. "It's just that...my dad..." She choked on her words, and couldn't bring herself to say anything more.

"Go on," I said, "I'm listening."

The girl nodded, but seemed a bit hesitant. "Am I...am I bothering you? I-I mean...am I taking too much of your time?"

I smiled a weak smile and said, "No, time doesn't exist for me. I have all the time in the world, and I'm happy to be able to still help someone that is alive. You're the first person I've talked to in nearly eighty years. I don't mind a bit that you want to talk to me."

She nodded again as I encouraged her to tell me what was on her mind. "Um...well..." she began, "M-my dad just left us, me and my mom...I...we just moved to this town...we don't know anyone...so, when I heard about this place," she gestured towards the room we were standing in, "I thought that maybe you would be willing to...to..."

"To what?" I asked, "...to listen? I'm always happy to listen to you." The little girl nodded, but I sensed there was something more. I was tempted to simply tap into her mind and read it, but I thought that that might be considered rude, so I decided rather to try and pry it out of her. "There's something else you want me to do, isn't there?"

The girl started crying again. I had apparently hit the nail right on the head, so I wrapped my arms around her again until she calmed down enough to tell me what was on her mind. Finally, she looked at me, and said, "C-could you...bring him back?"

I pushed myself back from her in surprise and stood up. Bring him back? What was she talking about? "What do you mean?"

"Um..." she started, uncomfortably, "Couldn't you...like...use some of your powers or something...somehow make him come back to us?"

I felt so sorry for this little girl that I wanted to cry right then myself. I knelt back down on the floor and invited her to come and sit down next to me, which she did. "I want to tell you a story." I looked to her for confirmation that she was willing to listen, and then began.

"My name is Edward Elric. My brother and I had grown up in a little town called Reisenburgh, in a country that you probably have never heard of. When we were very young, our father had left us, and left our mother in a state of depression because of it, though she tried never to tell us how badly she was suffering."

"Did he ever come back?" the little girl interrupted. I put my finger to my lips to tell her not to interrupt, and continued with my story.

"Our mother was, unknown to us, dying from a strange sickness. She pretended everything was fine, but one day, my brother and I came home to find her collapsed on the floor. That was when we found out the truth."

"Oh my!" said the girl, "Did she get better?"

I shook my head. "No, she died soon after that. She was all we had, and I wasn't willing to let her go. I just wanted to bring her back, so I set about to find a way to do so."

"But it's impossible to bring back the dead...isn't it? How would you have gone about it even if you did try?" the girl asked.

"I did try," I said, "I tried by using alchemy, which is a science where I come from that allows one to change one thing into another. I wanted to create another body for her, and call her soul back to it. I already knew a considerable amount of alchemy, so I thought that I could do that."

"Did it work?"

I shook my head. "When we tried to bring her back, we succeeded at creating the body, but we couldn't call back her soul. In addition, my brother and I paid the price...I lost my leg in the attempt, and my little brother lost his entire body. I had to give up my arm too in order to get my brother's soul back, which I managed to bind to a suit of armor that just happened to have been in the room at the time."

"You're kidding! Things like that don't happen!"

I turned and looked at the girl in seriousness for a brief moment. "Actually, things like that happen all the time, just not quite so severe. Everything we do or seek in life comes with a price. Have you ever noticed how sometimes you'll have a string of good luck for a period of time only to suddenly be swamped by some of the worst luck you've ever seen?" The girl nodded her response, and I half-heartedly smiled. "That's an example of what I'm talking about. Everything has a price. Nothing in life is free. If you want to get something back, you have to pay a price for it, and even then, you may fail...are you willing to pay a price equal to or greater than that which you are seeking?"

The girl thought for a moment before answering. "You mean I won't be able to just get my father to come back to me? I'll have to give something up in return?" I nodded, which produced the question of what she might have to give up.

"Well," I sighed, "Tell me...why did he leave?"

"I think it was basically because he was always coming home drunk and hitting my mom...but he says he's changed now, and won't do it anymore! I just want him to come home!"

"But what if he falls into it again, and starts hitting your mom again...is that worth it?"

The girl shook her head slowly, but quickly added, "But that's not gonna happen!"

I put up my hand. "Just the same, what about your mother's feelings? If she was hit so many times by this man, do you think that she would honestly be willing to have him just come waltzing back into the house like nothing was wrong?"

The girl shook her head. "No, she hates him now, and she never wants to see him again...but I'm sure she'd learn to love him again if he'd just come home."

"But aren't those just YOUR feelings? Are you sure that it would be worth having him come home? What about all the money he squandered while drinking, or all the yelling and abuse he gave you and your mother? What about all the times you had to hide for fear of him taking out his anger on you? What about all the times you've no doubt seen your mother crying for fear and regret when he wasn't around to observe her behavior himself? What about the ruined childhood and the difficult adulthood you would have as a result of his constant presence? You've already paid a price...do you really want to pay more of a price to get the same thing back?"

The girl just stopped and stared. She had apparently never thought about the situation like that before. "C-come to think of it...I saw my mom laughing for the first time in years the other day."

"See?" I said. I pulled her over to a nearby window so she could see out of it, and pointed to some faraway hills that were very clear on this particular day. "There is so much beauty that lies beyond the horizon...it's just that we can't see it yet. We simply need to have faith that it is indeed there, and run for it. We'll run into some rough spots along the way, but there is so much to look forward to...we just need to move on."

Finally, the little girl smiled, and a tear escaped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. "I...I think I understand now...I have to quit dwelling on the past...I need to move forward, and not look back...I need to pursue what lies beyond the horizon." She turned to face me and flashed me a smile. I was relieved. I had gotten through to her. I didn't want this sweet little girl to make the same mistakes that I had made in my past.

She stepped away from the window and looked around, suddenly taking note of how much dust there really was lying around in the place. "How long have you been here?"

"About...eighty years...I think." She gasped and turned to face me.

"That's a long time! Why do you stay here? Why don't you move on?"

I buried my face in my hands. I was trapped by my own words. "I-I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because..." I said, "I can't let anyone make the same mistakes that I did...I somehow have to get the word out to the people: Don't dwell on the past, move forward, don't look back. But," I sighed, "I have no way of doing so."

The girl walked over to my desk and gently picked up the newest piece of paper that I had written. "Is this part of your message that you have to get out?"

"That and everything in the drawers nearby...I had eighty years to write it...so I made sure to get down every detail."

"What is it exactly?" she asked.

"...It's my life story. Every mistake I made, every hardship, every sacrifice, every loss. All the lessons I learned, all my hopes and dreams are all in there somewhere."

"Um..." she said, "If this is all that's keeping you from moving on...would you mind if I took these? I know someone who could actually get this story known to the public. You would be famous in no time, and your story would be told. You could move on, finally."

I smiled at her sweetness, and said, "I would very much like that, actually, but that's not the only thing keeping me from moving on...there is one other thing." She gave me a questioning look, so I continued. "I was murdered in this house, and my body was never properly buried. It is still in the basement here as a matter of fact...All I need is for my story to be told and for my body to be buried in a final place of rest...and then I can go. I can move on."

The girl smiled again. "Leave it to me. I can take care of both. You helped me to move on, now I will help you...deal?" She reached out her hand. I was a bit nervous...did she seriously mean that she'd be able to help me move on...seriously? Just the same, I wanted it more than anything, even if I was scared at the prospect of change. I reached out my shaky hand and clasped hers. I had just made a deal with a little girl who promised to help me move on. I hoped I had done the right thing.

I paced around the house in a restless state for some period of time after she left...I had guessed that it was a few weeks. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me, but there was nothing I could do but wait, especially since she had already taken all my writings with her.

Then one day, a number of unfamiliar people came barging into the house without warning. It scared me to death. Who were these people, and what did they want? What were they doing in my house? I tried to get their attention, but they were so busy with what they were doing, that they couldn't perceive me, which stressed me even more.

I frantically followed them around as they turned over rugs and loose boards like they were looking for something. Finally, one man pulled up a handle on the floor in the dining room, opening a small door which revealed a staircase beneath it. "Hey guys, I think I've found the basement!"

My hand went immediately to my chest. I would have had a heart attack right then and there had I had a heart. Were these people here to bury my body? Was that why they had intruded upon my house without warning?

It wasn't long before the rest of the crew followed the man down the stairs into the basement, so I followed suit. I had to find out what was happening. Sure enough, they quickly found my body, and pulled out their equipment to properly transport it. They really were going to give me a proper burial. Finally, after all these years...it was almost too much to handle.

I moved closer to watch the men work. "It looks like the guy was murdered right here in this house," said one man, holding up the knife to examine it.

"Yeah, that's what I had suspected had happened, said the next, "They say that this mansion is haunted, after all."

"You don't honestly believe that this is a haunted mansion, do you?" said a third.

"Why not?" said a fourth, "The poor guy was murdered here, and he probably wasn't able to move on because of that. It would make sense if he haunts his mansion."

"There are no such things as ghosts," said the third man, "That's just an old wives' tale."

"All the same," said the first person, "Whether he haunts this place or not, he deserves a proper burial. Let's get this job done. Besides, this house will be able to go back on the market as soon as we do, since the rumor will stop once there is no body here."

I smirked. That last comment hadn't exactly been necessary, but there was no denying that it was true. People were afraid to live around here because of the fact that I was still here. It hardly seemed fair, since I would've never done anyone any harm...but if that was the way it was, then that was the way it was.

Finally, the men had finished their work and they transported my body out of the house. I had a strange feeling come over me, like I no longer felt I had to stay there, since both my writings and my body were gone, so I just followed the men. After some more time had passed, which I still wasn't sure how much, I finally watched the men lower the casket containing my bones into its final resting place and begin to cover it with earth. That sealed it. I was free...almost. My story still hadn't been told.

I felt no need to return to the mansion after that. That little girl had been true to at least half of the deal...I hoped that I could trust her on the rest as well. I decided rather to just randomly wander from place to place...hoping that sooner or later, I'd be able to move on.

I wasn't aware of how long it was that I was wandering aimlessly, though I guessed it to be several years. I was walking down a fairly well used sidewalk one day, when I happened to see a current newspaper that was lying atop a trash can. Something about the newspaper drew me to it, so I picked it up and carried it to a place where I would feel comfortable reading it's contents. A few people had noticed the movement, but they had simple assumed that it was the wind blowing the paper around.

I sat down in a dark alley where I wouldn't be noticed, and began to scan through the paper for something that would catch my eye. Eventually, I found it. It was a review of a current television show called FullMetal Alchemist. My eyes practically bulged out...as that had been my title while I was still alive. I feverishly read the rest of the review, which rated the show really high and the summary of the story seemed quite accurate to what I had been through. My story had indeed been told. I couldn't believe it, but that little girl...who I was sure wasn't "little" anymore, had actually managed to pull it off. I could move on.

I set the newspaper down on the ground and looked around. I felt like I could indeed move on now...but I was somewhat afraid. What would there be on the other side? What would I face? Would I meet my loved ones there that I had left behind so long ago? I shivered at the complete unknowing of it all, and once again looked down at the paper. The little girl had done this for me...I would go and visit her first and thank her for all she had done.

It didn't take me long to find her, for some reason, since I still knew what her energy felt like, and I soon appeared in a small bedroom with a young woman sitting with her back turned towards me, typing away at her computer. She suddenly jumped and spun around, looking frantically to find what it was that had made her feel that way. I smiled...she could still perceive me, and it was indeed that little girl. Her face was unmistakable.

I walked over to the edge of her bed and sat down on it, and then placed my hand on her shoulder. She gasped, paused for a second, and then said, "E-Edward?...I-Is that you?"

I smiled a very broad smile about that time. She remembered who I was just from my touch. I felt honored. "Yes, it's me...I came to say thank you for helping me to let go of my past and move on...and I especially thank you for getting my story out to be noticed...I never would have imagined that it would reach that many people."

The girl smiled and looked right at me. I guessed that she was finally able to see me...though I was also trying hard to make her see me. "I only wanted to help pay you back for what you did for me," she said, "Because of you, I was able to move on. I went and pursued my own dreams and didn't cling to my father. My mother is now happily married to a good man, and I am now a freelance writer, living my own life. All this I owe to you."

I smiled and shook my head. "I still think I got the better end of the deal. I owe you so much...is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

The girl laughed. "You already have, Edward, before I even did any of it. This was my attempt to make it up to you, not the other way around."

I chuckled a bit, as she was indeed right, and then said, "But still...I'd like to do something for you. Is there anything I can do...at all?"

She shook her head. "I only want you to move on. That is all."

I persisted, "Are you sure that there's not anything I can do, even the tiniest thing?"

The girl thought for a moment, and then said, "Well...do you think that when you get to the other side, you could tell my loved ones over there that I still love them, and will see them when I myself get there?"

I smiled. "I'll tell them." With that, I stood up, planted a kiss on her forehead in thanks for everything that she'd done, and vaporized from the room. I had finally moved on. I was now going to see what lay beyond the horizon.

**_Wow...what can I say? Believe it or not, this story wasn't actually written BY me...it was written THROUGH me. Yes, I talk to ghosts in real life, and one of the ghosts I talk to felt that this story should be told, so he decided to write a fanfiction about it. I had no idea what the story was going to end up being, but I just sat there, letting him move my hands as he typed the story. I'm pretty surprised with how interesting it ended up being. Heh, he's a pretty good writer, actually. ((The same ghost is the real author of "My Body, Your Soul" actually. I just didn't understand ghosts at that time, so I didn't realize that that was what was happening, but I wanted him to get the credit he deserved now. He helps me with a lot of my stories...but this is the second one that he's written himself.))_**

And yes, you'll probably notice some interesting little details in there, such as the spelling of Ed's hometown. Yes, the majority of people spell it as either Rizenbul, Risembool, or Resembool, but he decided to spell it as Reisenburgh. Seriously, that's his preferred spelling. Interesting, no?

Anyway, please leave some reviews so that I can know your thoughts. Do you like this sort of story, and want to see more? Let me know. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Heh, I was never going to update this fic, and was just going to leave it as a oneshot, but I've been starting to just write a bunch of ghost stories lately, and didn't really want to litter my profile with a zillion ghostly oneshots, so I figured that I might as well stick all my ghost stories into one fic. I'm not sure that this story is as good as the last one...but then, my spirit guide wrote the last one, and he oftentimes has better ideas, hehe. ((He's had personal experience too, haha)) Regardless, I hope this one is entertaining to you. It's a bit odd of an idea, I know...but I'd read a ghost story that was actually similar to this one, and decided I wanted to write my own version of it, heh. Anyway, hope you all enjoy my continuing ghost stories._**

**_Disclaimer: Don't own FMA, don't ask. ((snicker))_**

"This looks like a nice house. Don't you think so, Hildy?" said the mother to the daughter as she placed the key into the lock to open the door.

Hildy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes while letting out a sign. "Sure," she said boredly. They'd been searching for a new house to move into for quite some time, and Hildy's patience was beginning to wear thin. She just wanted her mother to make up her mind and buy a house, since she was tired of the constant searching.

As though sensing her daughter's distress, the mother said, "It won't be long now, Hildy, I'm sure. Why, we may even buy this house, who knows?" With that, she pushed the door open and the two females stepped inside the house.

The house wasn't out of the ordinary as far as houses went, but it was quaint, homey, and surprisingly clean. Most of the other houses the two had previously checked out had accumulated a substantial amount of dust during the time they had been unoccupied. For this house to be this clean, it had to have either been recently vacated, or someone was still hanging around and cleaning it up from time to time. In either case, it was refreshing to find a house that the owners were still keeping up so that the prospective buyers wouldn't have to choke on dust.

Hildy's mother brought both of their minds back to their mission as though she hadn't even noticed anything, though she must've been pleased about the small courtesy as well. "Okay," she said, "This place is supposed to have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a separate kitchen and dining room, attached parking…" She continued rattling off the list of features that the house contained as they turned to explore the place and actually find out the worth of said features. Indeed, the three bedrooms were very satisfactory, what with their each having large windows on one wall and sufficient closet space on another. Three bedrooms would be perfect for them: one for Hildy, one for her mother, and the third one for a den/guestroom. The main bathroom, which was on the same side of the house as the bedrooms, was great too. Everything was very nice thus far.

The two turned to head back to the other side of the house and check out the kitchen. Hildy's mother was barely paying attention to where they were going, as her head was bent over a piece of paper no doubt relating to the property, so she was the most startled of the two when she looked up and saw someone busily wiping down the kitchen counters. That explained how the house stayed clean.

"Oh!" said Hildy's mom, pressing the paper to her chest and breathing hard a few times to relax, "I didn't expect anyone was here."

The person chuckled a bit, which helped Hildy to notice that the individual was a teenage boy, and then he walked over to her mother, extending his hand. "Sorry about that. I'm Edward."

The woman calmed down and graciously took the boy's hand and gave it a couple quick pumps. "I'm Elaine Meyers. I gather that you're the one that's been keeping this place clean?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the boy with a slight note of pride. He hadn't said that term 'ma'am' with a tone of formality as most people saying the word would have, but had somehow almost managed to make it sound like a slang word. This Edward could possibly prove to be a very interesting person.

"Thank you so much for your hard work, Edward," said Hildy's mother. Edward just brushed the compliment off as though it were no big deal.

"So…are you looking to buy the place?" Edward asked. Hildy almost thought that she'd noticed a trace of nervousness slip into the boy's voice, but since she could think of no logical reason as to why he'd be nervous, as well as the fact that he was smiling, she just assumed it was her imagination.

"We haven't actually made up our minds yet," said Hildy's mom," But yes, we are prospective buyers." She paused a moment as she whipped out her pencil and pocket-sized notebook that she was used to carrying around by then. Hildy once again rolled her eyes at her mother, though the woman didn't seem to notice. "So, Edward, what can you tell me about this place?" The woman already had her pencil poised, ready to write. Hildy sighed.

"Well, I'm no expert on houses," said Edward as he scratched the back of his head, "But I do know that this one is about a hundred fifty years old if I remember correctly. Also, it still retains its structural integrity, and it's…"

"What about its history?" her mother interrupted, "Do you know of any interesting people that lived here?"

The boy shrugged. "Other than me, I wouldn't know." This caused a laugh to come from the two females and the boy smiled one of those devious smiles some people have that lets a person know that they're fully aware that they just made a joke.

Another question from Ms. Meyers. "Okay…Edward, if you don't mind my asking…why did you move out?"

Edward coughed for a brief moment at the unexpected question and then looked at the woman as though what she'd asked had been quite strange indeed. "Didn't they mention down at the realtor's office that I go with the house?"

Hildy's mother raised her eyebrows and looked curiously at the boy. "What do you mean?"

Edward shrugged and then turned back to the kitchen counter and grabbed his washcloth so that he could have something to occupy his hands with. "I've been here a long time…and rather than kicking me out, it's just always been agreed upon that I could stay and live with the new family."

Well, that was an odd-sounding agreement, but it didn't bother Hildy any. Edward seemed like a nice enough person, so why shouldn't they let him stay if he wanted to stay? Hildy's mother, however, didn't seem so sure. "Why…would you want to stay with a bunch of strangers? Don't you have a family of your own?" Edward let out his breath in a sigh and turned his back towards the woman while he continued to wipe down the counter. Hildy guessed that that meant 'no'.

Within a matter of days, the papers were signed, and the Meyers found themselves to be the proud owner of the house. Well, Elaine Meyers was the owner. Hildy was still too young to have her name on the house. They had both talked it over however as if it were both their decision, and had concluded that they liked the house and didn't mind if Edward lived with them. When they relayed the news to the boy himself, he seemed visibly relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about finding another home, and the family moved right in.

"So where do you sleep, Edward?" said Hildy as the two were unpacking some of the boxes in her bedroom one day, "I mean, you don't seem to use any of the bedrooms for yourself."

Edward smirked and the corner of his lip twitched a bit. "Yeah, well, I sleep in the attic, actually."

"There's an attic here?"

Edward nodded. "Yes, there is…well, sort of. It's more like a crawlspace."

"Why don't you take one of the bedrooms? That can't be a very pleasant place to live."

The boy smiled at the girl and sat back on his heels so that he could rest his back against the wall. "It's not my favorite place, I'll admit, but it's what I'm used to. One of the previous owners didn't like me much, so he stuck me up there."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Hildy, taking a box cutter and opening one of the boxes, "But we like you. You can come back down if you want." Edward just shook his head and got back to helping Hildy with the boxes. That boy was sure mysterious at times, but she couldn't figure out what about him was so odd. Then again, losing all of one's family would probably make anyone act a bit odd.

The days, weeks, and months passed by. Edward had quite managed to work his way into the hearts of the family, in spite of his occasional odd ways. He even still insisted on keeping up the housecleaning, saying that he needed something to do to keep his mind off things. Hildy was quite curious about what he needed to keep his mind off of, but she knew better than to ask, especially after that time she had caught him sobbing on the couch and calling for someone named Al repeatedly. If whatever had happened upset him that much, then it made sense not to ask.

Finally, Hildy's mother came rushing into the house in a frenzy after a day of having been researching the house's history at the library. She held a photocopy of some newspaper article in her hand and seemed to be visibly trembling. "Hildy," she whispered, "Follow me into my room." Hildy couldn't figure out why her mother was whispering, since only the three of them lived there, but then, her mother WAS a bit eccentric. Deciding not to say anything until she knew what her mom was up to, she shrugged her shoulders and followed the woman into her room.

Once inside, her mother quietly closed her door, and then joined Hildy on the bed. A photo copied newspaper article that was becoming ever more wrinkled from the woman's nervous hands found its way into Hildy's vision, and her eyes caught the headline, "Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric Missing in Action."

The girl's eyes looked up to meet her mother's, and the confusion in both sets of eyes was quite evident. Sure, the boy living with them was named Edward Elric, but anyone who had paid attention to their basic Amestrian history knew that the State Alchemist program was done away with decades ago. There was no way that the two could be one and the same.

"So…" said Hildy, trying to urge her mother to explain, "…You've found an Edward Elric."

"Yes!" her mom almost shrieked, but seemed to remember not to let her voice get too loud.

"But…this Edward Elric was a State Alchemist…which means that he disappeared ages ago. I'm not seeing the connection."

Hildy's mother sighed and proceeded to place one hand on her forehead and one on the bed as though exasperated. "Hildy, remember the other day when he was telling you all about the fundamentals of alchemy?"

"Yes, but-"

"And the other week when he was describing the details of the Ishbalan War?"

"Yes, but-"

"And how he's always crying for his brother ALPHONSE?"

"Mom, what are you getting at?"

"Dear," said her mother as she pushed the photocopied newspaper article towards the girl, "This article says that Edward Elric, State Alchemist Edward Elric, was sent on a mission around here sometime back, and that he never returned. They also say that this Edward was about the same age before his disappearance that our Edward appears to be now."

"But, Mom," Hildy stammered, trying desperately to get her thoughts to work together, "That's impossible! One can't just not age…can they?"

Her mother sighed and folded the piece of paper up neatly and placed it in her pocket. "That's what one would think, but he's being doing a lot of strange thing lately. He never seems to eat. As far as I know, he doesn't sleep, and he never lets us into his room. Why?"

Before Hildy could even think up a decent response to that question, supposing that there actually was one, her mom stood up and made her way over to the door. Hildy snapped to attention. "Wait, Mom…what are you doing?"

"I have to know, Hildy."

The girl nervously shifted her feet around on the floor. How could her mom do this? Edward trusted them. "But you can't just disturb his privacy!"

"I have to know. Are you coming or not?"

It was obvious that her mother's mind was made up, so arguing with her would do no good. The real question then, was what was she herself going to do? She didn't want to betray Edward's privacy, but then, she knew he was hiding something, and this might be the only opportunity to find out what it was. Finally, she stood up and followed her mother. They might as well get this over with before Edward knew what they were up to.

Hildy's mother quickly found a ladder and the two women soon found themselves standing underneath the small trapdoor that led to the attic. Her mother climbed up the ladder and pushed the trapdoor up and away from them, releasing a mountain of dust. Both females were taken aback at this and fell into a coughing fit for several minutes. It seemed odd that someone who was so obsessed with keeping the rest of the house clean would have let his own sleeping quarters get this bad.

Finally, Hildy's mother took a deep breath, and said, "I'm going in. Are you coming?' Hildy was really nervous by now, but she just swallowed and nodded. The two soon found themselves crawling through the attic that didn't even allow them to stand up straight, and they were constantly choking on the dust. How could Edward possibly handle this?

After a few minutes of crawling, they found themselves amongst piles of dusty old boxes. Upon examination, they seemed to contain various items that were decades old, some seeming quite valuable. Yet there was still no sign of where Edward was sleeping. For that matter, there was no sign of him having been up here at all in recent years. Had he been lying to them all along?

Hildy's mom suddenly grabbed Hildy's arm and said, "There's nothing here, let's go." There was a definite edge in her voice, making it sound like what she was saying wasn't totally truthful. It wasn't like her to quit this easily, especially when there were so many interesting research items spread out before her. Hildy knew that she'd probably regret it later, but she shook her mom's hand off of her arm and crawled past her to see what had spooked her so.

The movement caused more dust to swirl up and block her field of vision, so as she was choking on it, her mother continued to plead with her to come back away from there. However, Hildy wasn't done exploring yet. If her mom could be stubborn, then so could she.

Finally, the dust settled, and all at once Hildy's voice went up in a scream. Her mother quickly moved towards the girl and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't want you to have to see that." The girl's eyes were transfixed on the vision before her. Slumped against the wall was a human skeleton, and by the looks of the clothes it was wearing, it had been there awhile.

Hildy whimpered at the sight, but couldn't tear her eyes away. Something just compelled her to look. The clothes on the figure were dark, so it made it rather difficult to see except for on the jacket, but there were some large, brown splotches that didn't look like they had been originally meant to be there. Blood. The poor guy had been murdered. As she continued staring for another moment or two, something finally went off in her head. Black clothes, red jacket, those were the same clothes that Edward wore! No, it couldn't be…could it? What else could it be?

"It's…Edward?" Hildy choked after a long pause.

Her mother put her face down near her daughter's so that their cheeks were almost touching. "I think so," she said, "It would explain his strange behavior."

"Then what…what are we going to do…about having a body…and a ghost…in the house?" The poor girl was really nervous and visibly shivering, so her mother just tightened her embrace and continued trying to comfort her.

"We'll get someone to come and take care of the body. As for his spirit…I guess we'll just have to ask him what it is that he needs in order to move on."

"Then you're not going to try and exorcize me?"

Both women jumped at the sudden intrusion into their conversation and turned to find the source of the voice. There sat Edward, cross-legged, on top of one of the boxes, looking at them. Hildy would have expected that he would have been angry about them having invaded his privacy like they had, but strangely, he didn't look angry. He had more of an appearance of concern writer across his face, and he seemed to be conveying a slight vibe of relief as well. Maybe keeping a secret like this was really draining.

"No, Edward, I would never exorcise you," said Hildy's mom, "Is that the reason that you never told us that you were…dead?" Edward's skin blanched white at the mention of the word 'dead' as though he didn't like it, and then he cautiously nodded. Now his odd behaviors made sense. The poor guy must have been waiting around in this attic for ages.

"Edward," said Hildy's mother, still holding tightly to her daughter, "You're always welcome here. We care about you, but we also want what's best for you. What's keeping you from moving on?"

Edward flicked his thumb in the direction of the skeleton. "Well, that for one," he let out a timid chuckle like he was almost hoping to call that a joke but realized it wasn't joke material, "I need a proper burial. I also need to find out what happened to my brother."

At this point, Hildy finally found her voice again and spoke up. "That's just basic Amestrian history, Edward," she said, "After you disappeared, your brother joined the military since it was all he knew how to do. He eventually died in battle, but his body was buried back in your hometown."

Edward's eyes appeared to be wet with tears, which seemed a bit unusual for a ghost to cry, but he was doing it, all the same. "Bury me next to him."

Some weeks later, the Meyers found themselves in Edward's hometown with an entourage of military officials, undertakers, investigators, and any remaining family, friends, fans, and historians. It was a surprisingly large gathering for such a late memorial service, but then, Edward was that kind of person that no one could forget. Hildy watched the procession as they lowered the casket containing Ed's bones into the newly formed grave and then reverently began shoveling the soil over it. He had been buried right next to his brother, as he had asked.

The hours of the day passed by, and one by one, the attendees of the funeral left, until just Hildy and her mother remained standing and staring at the name on the new headstone. It was so strange to think that their good friend that they had only met a few months prior had been dead for years. Well, now he would be able to move on, according to the natural order of things. One couldn't help but think how much he'd be missed though. Would they ever see him again?

Hildy had almost nodded off to sleep from standing in place for so many hours when her eyes suddenly snapped open at the sight in front of her. Edward was standing over his grave with his back to her, apparently reading the text on the headstone over and over and over. The girl involuntarily choked, and Edward spun around to face her, apparently realizing that she'd just noticed him.

"Thanks," he said, and smiled a broad grin, "You're a really good friend. Both of you, actually. I wish I could have known you when I was alive."

"I'm just glad that I got the chance to know you at all." Hildy reached forward and tried to wrap her arms around him as she'd done previously, but her arms just kept passing through him. True, a non-material being was more characteristic of a ghost than one that one could touch, but it still seemed weird to her. Perhaps he was simply letting his guard down, now that he knew that they meant him no harm.

Heedless of her apparently difficulty, Edward wrapped his arms around Hildy even though she couldn't really feel it. "Now that I actually can move on, I'm a bit nervous about it." He chuckled self-consciously. "What do you think lies beyond?" Hildy just shook her head that she didn't know. What else could she say?

Suddenly, their little attempt at saying goodbye was disturbed by the presence of another being who placed his hand on Ed's shoulder and startled the poor boy. "You finally made it, Brother. Congratulations!"

Ed cautiously turned his head to see who was speaking to him, though it was likely that he'd suspected who it was all along. When he saw the other's face, his own face broke into a big, radiant smile as he said, "Al?"

The other smiled too and gave Ed a sudden hug, something he seemed to be getting a lot of that day. "We've been waiting for you, Brother, Mom and I. We were hoping that you'd finally be able to move on and come back to us."

It was strange, but Edward seemed to be crying again, but this time, he was crying with tears of joy. He had finally been reunited with those he cared most about, and the emotion was contagious, for Hildy too started crying. When Edward noticed this, he placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Please don't cry for me. I'm finally going home."

"But I'll miss you," said Hildy, tearfully.

Edward seemed to be in thought for a moment, and he then turned to look at Al, who nodded. Edward turned back to Hildy. "I can come visit you sometimes if you'd like. I won't be haunting the house like before, but I can come and see you as a friend."

Hildy smiled at this, but didn't have to say anything, because her up until now silent mother finally spoke up. "Like I said before, Edward, you're always welcome at our house." She then nodded to Al. "And your brother too, or any other friends you have have. We trust you."

Edward smiled and thanked her, and then turned back to Hildy, whose face was still wet with tears. "Don't cry, we'll see you soon." With that, Ed and Al turned so that their backs were facing the two women, clasped hands, and began walking. By the time they had walked just a few steps, the two boys had vanished from sight.

Hildy desperately missed Edward, but that wasn't the last she ever saw of him. He and his brother, and sometimes other friends and family, showed up periodically for a visit. Over the years, the frequency of the visits became less and less, until they finally stopped. She couldn't figure out why, but since she had no way of knowing what was in the Great Beyond, she accepted it.

Finally, the girl grew up and married a nice young man whom she was surprised later to discover was a descendant of Alphonse Elric. In time, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who had the same golden hair and eyes that Edward had had. It must have run in the family to have such good looks. Naturally, she named him after his great uncle Edward. She later had another son whom she named Alphonse.

Upon watching the two grow up, it was almost startling to see how similar the boys' personalities were to their namesakes. She knew that some people believed that the souls of the departed were reborn into their own families, and this WAS the two boys' family. Hildy shook her head as she watched the two boys at play. There were just some things she would never know.

**_I hope you liked that, but feel free to leave a review and let me know. I'll try to upload another one soon, since I have at least one other that is completely written, but not typed, heh. Do any of you have FMA ghost stories you'd like to contribute? I don't mind co-authoring stories or whatnot. Ideas and suggestions on what kind of FMA ghost story you'd like to see would be great too. Anyway, hope to hear from you soon!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Heh heh, here's the other ghost story that I said I'd already written. I hope you enjoy it. And yes, I know that logically, Al and Winry wouldn't necessarily realize that what Al does is called "astral projection" when his soul leaves his body, but for the sake of the story, I just decided to have them all know the term and accept it without bothering to explain it as a new phenomenon, heh. Just thought I'd let you know in case you found that odd._**

**_Disclaimer: I need to come up with some new disclaimers, like that person that wrote the fic "The New Neighbors" did when she had Ed and Frodo beat each other up because they'd called each other short, hehe. Gotta love that. Anyway, I don't own FMA. Or LoTR, for that matter...but Frodo's not in this story anyway._**

Winry was startled out of her sleep as she sensed the presence of some foreign entity invade her room. She popped one eye open and lazily peered into the darkness, too tired to actually be scared. A familiar face smiled back at her, beckoning for her to give her full attention. They girl yawned and propped herself up on an elbow to get a good look at the apparition before her.

"Al," she said with a mixture of fatigue and annoyance, "Why must you astral project right when I'm in the middle of a good night's sleep?" That was an odd thing about this particular circle of friends. Having Al's spirit suddenly pop up somewhere was not so unusual since he had gotten his body back due to the fact that his body and soul connection was still kind of weak.

"I have something important I've got to tell you," the apparition responded, and then offered a gentle smile, "Meet me down at Brother's grave in half an hour, okay?" Winry was about to object, but the vision of Al had vanished before she'd gotten the chance to say a word in protest. Ed had died some months back from a fatal wound in some fight he had gotten into, and the last place she wanted to go right then was to his grave. But what was she to do? Al had disappeared before she'd had the opportunity to say no. With a groan, she pushed herself out of bed and began to pull on her shoes.

* * *

"Whoa-Wha-What?" Al had been experiencing a particularly pleasant dream and so was extremely startled when someone began shaking him awake. He took a few moments to catch his breath and placed his hand over his face as if by doing that, he wouldn't have to wake up. Finally giving in and peering through the spaces between his fingers, he saw what appeared to be Winry standing beside the bed in his room, only she looked a bit ghostly.

"Win-Winry…What happened? Are you okay?" It had briefly run through his mind that the girl could have died during the night, and was now coming to say goodbye to him. He desperately wanted this to be a false assumption, seeing how he had already lose his brother, and he wasn't sure how he could take losing another person that was dear to him.

The astral form before him threw back their head and laughed. "Of course I'm okay, Al! I'm just learning how to astral project like you do. I'm still very much alive."

Al breathed an audible sigh of relief at hearing this, and then asked the girl what she wanted by disturbing him so late into the night, or early in the morning…he wasn't sure of the time. The girl looked mischievously at him and said, "I've got something important to talk to you about. Meet me at Ed's grave in half an hour, okay?" Without any further warning, the figure vanished, leaving Al alone, scratching his head.

* * *

Half an hour later, Winry found herself walking through the local cemetery…quite a morbid place to be at this time of night…looking for Ed's grave to keep the appointment. She was so going to chew Al out for this when she found him. He seriously could have picked a better time, and a better place for that matter. Who did he think he was, making her visit the one place she didn't like to go to?

At last, she spotted the boy standing a few yards distant, staring downward, probably reading the words on his brother's grave. He seemd a bit sad right then, and for a moment Winry thought that maybe yelling at him wouldn't be such a good idea. Then he looked up at her, and her frustration flooded back. She clenched her fists at her sides and marched up to the boy hoping that she wasn't disturbing the local 'residents' too much.

"Winry, you're finally here," Al said with a faint smile before the girl had even had a chance to speak, "What did you want to talk with me about?"

Winry was taken aback. Al had called her all the way out here just to try and pretend that SHE had ordered it? That was a dirty trick, one that she never would have expected from Al. She shot the boy a hard glare and snapped, "YOU called ME out here!"

The funny thing was that Al didn't laugh at this or pretend in a conceited matter that he didn't know what she was talking about, which he would have had he really been playing a dirty trick. Instead, he looked genuinely confused. "But…I saw your spirit appear at my bedside," said Al, "You said you were learning how to project like me."

Winry's anger began melting away, and Al's confusion was becoming contagious. "I don't know how to astral project, Al." Both sets of eyes locked together in confusion for several minutes, neither one daring to speak. What had caused them both to come out to the same place at the same time, and yet, neither one of them appeared to be responsible?

They were interrupted by a third voice which neither one had noticed its approach. "For goodness' sakes, Al, why don't you just kiss her while you've got the chance?"

Both sets of eyes snapped out of their trance and looked around frantically for the intruder, but couldn't find anyone within their vision. The fact that the moon was bright enough to allow them to see by made the fact that they couldn't locate the source of the voice all the creepier. Winry and Al glanced back at each other and unconsciously took a step towards each other. "Who are you?" Al called out.

As if in answer to his question, a sudden gust of wind sprung up and swirled around the grave that they were both standing in front of. A moment later, it died down, and was replaced by a luminescent figure sitting on the edge of the headstone. The figure looked up at Al and smiled, and both Al and Winry gasped.

"…Brother?..."

The figured smiled even wider and then stood up and made its way towards the two still-creeped-out teens. "Al…Winry…I've missed you both so much." The figured then extended its hands to them, and they both finally came to accept that this was indeed Ed's ghost.

"Brother…" Al began, "Wh…What are you doing here?" He then swallowed in a very nervous gesture, not sure whether he was relieved or terrified to see his brother appear in spirit form before him.

"Just trying to get you two together, is all," Ed said with the same tone of mischievousness he had used during his lifetime. At least that meant that one didn't stop being who they were just because they had died. All the same, they were still seeing a ghost, familiar entity or not. Al shuddered.

"Are you nervous about me, Al?" Ed said with an amused smirk. "Fine, kiss her and I'll go on."

"…What?" Al wasn't sure if his ears were playing tricks on him.

"You heard me. I said I wouldn't leave until you kissed her."

Al stopped dead and blinked a couple times as he looked from his brother to Winry and back. "Brother, I…I can't just…"

Ed rolled his ghostly eyes and sat back down on the headstone. He crossed his legs and then laced his fingers together and placed his hand in his lap. Al couldn't help but wonder if being a ghost felt the same as being an astral projection. It probably did.

"Look, Al," Ed said in a slightly condescending tone, though anyone could tell that the words were being spoken in love. "You know you love Winry. Anyone who looks as you can tell that you love Winry. The only reason you've been holding yourself back is because you wanted me to get with her, but I'm dead now. Now you have no excuse."

"But, Brother, I…"

Ed narrowed his eyes and glared at Al. 'If you don't, I'll be very disappointed in you." Al swallowed and said nothing, so Ed then turned to look at the other person present. "And Winry, you've got to stop secretly hoping I'll come back to you somehow. I'm dead. I'm not coming back. Al's here, so take advantage of that."

"But, Ed…I don't know if I'm ready for…"

"You have to move on sometime," said Ed, "Stop clinging to the past and to me. It won't do you any good." He then turned back to Al once again, and said, "Now do as I say and kiss her, and I'll go."

Al shook his head and said, "Brother, I can't just…"

"Then at least tell her that you love her."

Al stood silent, not sure what to do. True, he had always felt something for Winry, but he had never really been willing to admit it, especially since he wanted to see his brother get her. Of course, Ed was now dead, so…

"Come on, Al," Ed said as he folded his arms across his chest and stared firmly yet playfully at Al, "Do it or I'll come into your body and make you do it!"

Al shuddered again. While he did in deed trust his brother, the thought of losing control of his body was kind of creepy. He licked his lips and stared at the girl in front of him, "I…um…" His throat went dry. OF all the times when he had to get a parched throat, it had to be then? The boy turned his head away and coughed a few times to loosen up his throat.

"I'm waiting…" said an impatient Ed.

"Um…" said Al, bringing his attention back to Winry, "Well…I, um…" He couldn't seem to articulate his thoughts, and shivers were running uncontrollably throughout his being. His brother was being so cruel, putting him through this. The boy took a step toward the girl, took a deep breath, and then without any warning, planted a quick peck on her cheek just before blushing and spinning around to run back to the house.

Winry stood in place, shocked and holding the spot on her cheek with her hand where Al had kissed her. Ed stood nearby, chuckling to himself. "Close enough," he said, "It looks as though my work is done here." Without wasting any more time, Ed's energy swirled away and vanished, leaving the two new lovers to figure out for themselves what had just happened between them.

**_Hope you enjoyed that. Leave me some reviews and tell me what you think, especially if you have suggestions for other FMA ghost stories. They don't all have to be about Ed as a ghost either ((that's just something I tend to do a lot of, heh)). I know I have a lot of Hughes fans amongst my readers, so I'm sure you'd like to see him make an appearance. If you want that, give me some plot ideas. I don't have any, hehe._**

**_Anyway, hope to hear from you guys soon. Give me some ghost fic ideas, will ya? Thanks much. Hehe._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**This one took me so ridiculously long to write. I got about half of it written a couple months ago, and then couldn't find my muse, so I asked AdventureAddict for help, so she wrote part of this chapter for me. Funny, I knew exactly what I wanted to have happen in this, but I couldn't put it into words. Go figure, hehe. Anyway, there were two reviewers who helped inspire this one, the only problem is that I don't really remember who they were, hehe. I think one was Ayumi Elric if I remember correctly. The other one I don't remember the name of, though hopefully she'll know who she is and remind me, hehe. This isn't exactly the story she wanted though, since she wanted one involving revenge or something. This didn't quite come out like that, heh. Oh well, maybe in the future. Anyway, hope you all enjoy the story.**_

_**Disclaimer: Alchemist Fullmetal own not do I. I'll leave you to translate that into proper English. **_

"Okay, Al, I guess this is where we part," said Ed as the two boys came to a stop at an intersection on a back road and just stood there, looking at each other. "The house I'm supposed to investigate isn't far from here. You go meet Winry at that cafeteria we agreed to meet at."

Al crossed his arms over his chest and shivered a bit as the wind picked up and battered his hair against his forehead. "Aren't you coming, Brother?"

Ed rolled his eyes at his little brother and gave him a playful burn on the back of his head with a knuckled fist. "Of course I am. Since when have I ever skipped a meal?" Both he and Al laughed while Al pulled his head away from his brother and rubbed it delicately to soothe the pain. "I just have to do this assignment really quick, and then I'll join you."

Al smiled a timid smile, but nodded his head and said, "Okay." He tightened his arms over his chest and shivered some more. "Brrrr...it sure is cold out today."

Ed pulled off his jacket and handed it to Al. "Here, I'll be indoors before you are. No need for you to catch a cold."

Al took the jacket as he said, "Are you sure you won't need it?"

"I'm sure." Ed smiled. "Now go on and keep your appointment, and make sure to save some food for me."

"Okay, Brother." Al shrugged Ed's coat on and looked at himself briefly before smiling at his older brother. He had taken on a bad habit of imitating Ed lately, and had been wearing almost exactly the same clothes that his brother usually wore: black boots, black pants, black shirt, black jacket with white trim, now he had on Ed's red coat. If only there were two red coats to share between them, the brothers would almost match, but that would probably annoy Ed more than having a little copycat around already did. Al turned away and waved. "See you soon, Brother."

"Yeah, see ya," said Ed as he added a bored little wave and continued on down the road.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure that this was the house I was supposed to investigate," Ed said, talking to himself, not particularly caring if anyone thought he was crazy. He already knew he was, so it didn't particularly matter if someone verified it to him. He went up to the door and knocked loudly a few times. There didn't seem to be any logical point to doing so, really, because if the people who occupied this place really were drug smugglers as he was told to investigate, then they weren't likely to answer the door, but it was proper procedure to knock first.

"Hello?" he called out after a moment of being completely ignored, "This is Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. I have orders to investigate this house. Open up!" He waited for another moment and began tapping his foot impatiently. His hands made their way to his hips and he leaned his head back to check the position of the sun in the sky to determine the time, since he never thought to use his watch. This was getting ridiculous; it should just be a routine search, rush in, rush out. Why did the military have to be involved, anyway? Wouldn't the police have sufficed? The boy growled in frustration and sighed. The military did a lot of quirky things that were really a waste of time for that branch of the government, he might as well get used to it.

"I'm coming in!" he yelled, and then reached for the door handle. Locked. Yes, that was as expected. He stepped back a few paces and looked up at the house. None of the windows appeared to be accessible, so he would have to break in. Ed stepped back up to the door and placed his left foot up by the lock. Then, slowly pulling it back down and continuing until his foot was behind him, he brought it up again at full speed and hit the spot by the lock where he had placed his foot a moment ago. The door popped open and shuttered on its hinges, just barely hanging on. Dust flew out from the open door, making Ed choke, so he put his arm up against his mouth to filter the air through the fabric of his jacket sleeve. It was now or never, so he stepped through the door and into the house.

The moment he saw the inside of the house, he was fairly certain that it wasn't actually a location for drug traffic, considering how utterly unkempt and filthy the inside of the house was. Its appearance actually lent to the idea that the place hadn't been in use for some time, nothing more than an abandoned shack, no use to anyone except for the occasional vagrant. The whole drug smuggling idea must have been just a rumor, but he'd have to fill out paperwork for this later, so he had better search the entire house. At least it would be quick work if there was no one here.

There was nothing in the room he was in. He walked over to a closet nearby and wrestled with the door, which also had difficulty opening, as it had been neglected so long. Once he had pried it open, it completely fell off its hinges and clattered to the ground, spewing more dust into the air in its wake. Ed once again launched into a coughing fit and struggled to breathe through his sleeve as he raced to another part of the house where the dust would be more settled. All he had to do was search the house quickly, and then he could get out of there.

He soon found himself walking up the creaky stairs. Hopefully they could hold his weight, and he wouldn't find a rotten board. Of course, since he was lighter than most people...no, wait, he shouldn't be thinking about his weight as compared with others. All he had to do was test the strength of the board by tapping on it with his foot before stepping on it. Tap tap. Yep, that one was okay. Tap tap. Okay, that one should hold his weight. He continued that way up all the stairs, only hopping over two steps in the process that he wasn't so sure he could trust.

Once at the top of the stairs, he began to explore the top story of the house, still finding nothing in any of the rooms he searched in. Figuring that maybe he'd searched enough to write the report and just call it a day, he turned to leave, when suddenly he heard a stirring behind him. Startled, he whipped around to see a man standing there, grinning from ear to ear, though he couldn't recognize the face. Ed's eyebrows automatically lowered into a scowl. "Who are you?"

The man sneered. "Edward Elric, I presume? You made it no secret about your identity upon your entrance."

Ed let out a combination of what sounded like a growl and a sigh and once again asked the question, "Who are you?" and then added, "What are you doing here?"

The man smiled a wicked smile and chuckled in a way that made Ed squirm. "Following you," he answered.

Ed wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that. Who knew what this man was up to if he was following him around? Losing his sense of reason and throwing all caution to the wind, he suddenly shouted, "What the (beep) are you following me for?"

"You make too much noise," said the man, suddenly pulling out a gun from his cloak and firing it before Ed had time to react. "You'll disturb the residents." Ed fell down hard on the floor with a bullet wound in his chest, his consciousness on the fringe, the last thing he saw being the sneer of the man before he blacked out.

"What's taking Brother so long?" Al said as he stirred some more sugar into his tea. Seriously, he had put more than enough sugar in that tea by now, but he seemed to think that he needed an excuse to keep stirring, even if he couldn't bear to drink the tea afterward.

"Maybe his assignment took longer than he thought?" suggested Winry, taking a sip of her tea and watching Al's nervous stirring.

Al shook his head. "If it was going to take this much longer, he would have contacted us by now. Something's happened, I can feel it in my bones."

Winry gave a half smile in a semblance of reassurance. "The ol' Elric Telepathy at work again?"

Al jammed his eyelids shut and sat back and sighed. "For once in my life, Winry, I hope not."

Just then, one of the cafeteria staff came up to their table and said, "Telephone call for Alphonse Elric."

"That would be me," said Al, getting up on his feet and following the man over to the counter where the phone was located. He picked up the phone and talked for a few minutes, and then walked back over to the table where Winry was still sitting, looking worriedly at him. Al picked up his coat, looked at the girl, and said, "Come on, we gotta go, now."

"So your sixth sense is indeed working here?" she asked, concerned.

"It seems so," he sighed, "That was Colonel Mustang, but he wouldn't tell me what was wrong...though I could tell by the tone of his voice that something was."

"I'm sorry to call you out here like this," said Colonel Roy Mustang, his voice shaking as though trying to keep himself from crying, "But...I needed you to confirm the identity of the body."

"The WHAT?" Al exclaimed. Roy just stared at him a moment longer and didn't bother to say anything, seeming to want to avoid dealing with the situation at hand for as long as possible. Al's hands clenched into fists and began to sweat, while his heart rate sped up. The body? Was that what Colonel Mustang had said? Had someone died that he had known?

After a moment, Roy sighed and said, "Follow me." He led both Al and Winry into the same house that Ed had been assigned to investigate earlier that day, the only difference this time being that security guards were stationed all around the house to prevent whatever had happened earlier from happening again to anyone else. The three individuals carefully made their way up the creaky stairs and into the room where a lumpy cloth lay in the middle of the floor. Roy stopped moving and simply stared ahead, as though not sure what to do next, and so the other two followed his lead and waited. The Colonel then clenched his shaky fists and ventured forward toward the thing that was in the middle of the floor, and carefully lifted the cloth to reveal what was underneath to the two young adults in the room.

Al immediately shrieked and ran for the thing on the floor, throwing his arms around it and crying, calling for his brother repeatedly, as though that would help. Winry stood in place, looking on the whole situation with her hand over her mouth, the reaction taking longer to hit her than it obviously had Al. When it did, both of them were flooding the hall with tears and clambering over the body and occasionally calling for "Ed!" or "Brother!" Roy stood back the whole time the two were dealing with their sudden loss, his head down to the ground, and his hands in his pockets.

It took several hours for the initial shock to wear off and for the authorities to have a chance to pry the two away from Ed's body. Winry was still crying bitterly, but she was easier to coax off the body than Al, who clung to it and refused to let go. No one could convince him to loosen his grip. No one could convince him that his brother was dead. And no one could convince him to leave the place for the night. He would stay here no matter what the Colonel or anybody else said. Not knowing what else to do, Colonel Mustang permitted Al to stay by the body overnight in the hopes that he'd be willing to relinquish it come morning. Winry agreed to stay overnight to keep Al company and to try and comfort him, even though she was now very ready to get away from this death house...but Al obviously wasn't. She sat down against a nearby wall, drew up a blanket that had been provided to her by one of the military officers, and did her best to settle down for the night.

Winry's eyes suddenly flew open as she noticed the commotion in the room. The darkness of the night made it difficult to see, but the moonlight coming in through the windows at least allowed her to see silhouettes of people and things. Al had apparently adjusted enough to the situation to finally pry himself away from his brother's body, and was now pacing around the room, but looking a bit lost. "Are you okay?" Winry asked sleepily. She tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, and then asked, "Would you like to go home yet?"

"Not yet, Winry," Al said in response and then marched up to a nearby window and looked out. "I've got things to do before I can stop and rest." He turned around to take in the rest of the room, including the body still in the middle of the floor. "Who did this?"

Winry shook her head. "I wish I knew. I would show them the meaning of Rockbell mercy." She clenched her fist and teeth as hot tears ran down her face and fell off of her chin.

"D--n it," Al muttered, clenching his hands into tight fists. Winry looked up in surprise, wondering when Al had adopted such a potty mouth. Imitating Ed physically was one thing, but imitating him in language was different.

"Are you okay?" Winry asked softly, looking at Al with wide eyes. Al half sighed and half screamed in response, clutching at his hair.

"Of course I'm not fine!" he snapped at her angrily, and Winry flinched. "My _brother_ just died! I'm not feeling too peachy, if you know what I mean!" Al then sighed and slumped against the wall, keeping his eyes averted from the body.

"How did this happen?" Al sighed, closing his eyes. Winry knew he felt awful, so she got up and silently sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Al stiffened slightly at the contact, but otherwise didn't pull away, which Winry took as a good sign.

"It'll be okay," Winry said softly, rubbing his back gently. "We'll manage to pull through this somehow. We'll lean on each other for support until we can both stand on our own, okay?" Al just nodded silently.

"Why did you let him come back here to check on me?" Al whispered silently after a long pause. "I would have been fine. But he was safe with you, and now he... he's…"

"What do you mean by that?" Winry said, suddenly feeling very confused. "I hadn't seen him at all until just a few hours ago, when…" she trailed off slowly, remembering the horror she had felt when she had first seen Ed's deathly pale face.

"You didn't see him at all?" Al suddenly snapped, turning his head to look at Winry. "But I told him to go meet you at the cafeteria! Why didn't he listen to me?! He's listened to me for years, why did he suddenly decide to disobey me now?!" Al jumped to his feet, clenching his hands into fists before suddenly looking down at them in surprise.

"Maybe you should rest," Winry said slowly, considering the boy standing in front of her. "It's been a long day, and you've been through a lot, so-"

"I told you, I don't have time to rest!" Al snapped before looking back down at his hands. He then suddenly ripped the white glove off his right hand, looking at it with wide eyes and while he flexed his fingers a few times.

"When did this happen?" Al said, turning back up to look at Winry, still rubbing his thumb and fingers together. Winry's face, which had been hardened by the sudden outburst a moment before, suddenly melted when she saw the look of concern on the boy's face. He looked confused, almost frightened. There was no way she could hold his current mood swings against him, especially after suffering the trauma of losing a brother.

"When did what happen?" said Winry, taking Al's hand in hers and trying to see what was bothering him so. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her. "Did you hurt your hand?"

"No! Uh, I mean..." Al stumbled for words. If anything, he became even more confused than he had been previously and began to claw at his hair once again. Winry worriedly gripped the boy's hands and tried to gently pull them loose before he hurt himself too badly. In a depressed state like this, there was no telling what a person might do.

She held both Al's hands in hers and tenderly rubbed at them with her thumbs in an attempt to get him to calm down. "It's okay, Al, we'll find a way to get through this."

Suddenly the boy's eyes snapped wide open. "Al?"

"Yeah, Al," Winry said softly with a confused smile. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"I… my name…" Al stumbled over his words, seeming even more lost than before. "No, my name's not Al, I'm-" He suddenly stopped, and his expression changed in an instant.

"Yeah, of course my name is Al," he said softly, hugging his arms to his chest. "Why would you ask such a silly question, Winry? What time is it?" he said with a yawn.

"No, my name's not Al," he suddenly said, shaking his head from side to side quickly just as Winry opened her mouth to answer him. Winry kept her mouth open instead of closing it, and looked at Al bewilderedly.

What?" Al said, his expression changing instantly once again. "Of course my name is Al! What are you talking about?"

"Um, Al, I-" Winry started, but was cut off immediately.

"Who are you?" Al said in a low voice that was almost a growl.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, buddy," Al responded, looking around wildly as if there was someone else in the room that was invisible.

"Okay, don't worry about me," Winry said with a sigh, realizing that Al hadn't paid any attention to her words earlier. "I'll just stand here and wonder what the heck is going on."

"Winry, help me," Al said in a desperate voice, his expression changing once more. "It's like I can hear Al talking to me, but I know he's dead over there," Al said, motioning to the space where Ed's body was.

"What?" Winry shrieked in unison with Al, only making her even more confused. "Ed's the one who's dead, Al, not you!"

"What?!" Al shrieked, his eyes going wide. His placed his palms on his face again and looked around frantically as he said, "I'm...I'm not..."

Winry didn't know what to say when Al was going through this sort of shock and denial. She had been through several deaths before, but had never experienced this situation before. Then again, Ed and Al had been extraordinarily close, moreso than the average family relationship. They had been all each other had had during those trying years of their lives they had journeyed together, and now that they were separated, Al was probably not mentally prepared to cope.

Al suddenly yelled again and pressed his eyes tightly shut. "What is happening to me?!" Winry shook her head, still very unsure of what to say.

Without warning, Al suddenly turned and grabbed Winry's shoulders and lightly shook them. "Winry, help me! I'm not alone in here!"

"Not alone...in where?" Winry asked, getting more bewildered by the second.

Al released her and grabbed his eyes and growled again. "S-Someone's...in my...body..."

Winry's eyes suddenly grew wide with realization, and she took a step closer to the frantic boy. She grabbed both of his hands and held them firmly in front of her, forcing him to look at her and not run away. Al had been saying some contradictory things in the past few minutes, not to mention arguing with himself. It sounded bizarre, but could it be...?

"Who are you?" she said as she looked the boy squarely in the eye.

Al blinked a couple times, obviously surprised at her question, but then answered, "I'm Al, of course."

Winry shook her head. "You said someone was in your body. Who's the other guy?"

Al's breath shuddered and began to increase in frequency as though panicked. He wriggled in Winry's grip as though to break loose, but Winry held firm. She finally had a connection as to what was going on with Al, and she wasn't going to give up so easily. "Whoever you are, I don't know what you're thinking. I'm not going to let you run off in Al's body!"

"Al's body? This is _my_ body!" Al said in reply.

"Right, and I'm Russel Tringham," said Winry, rolling her eyes. "Just tell me who you are, please!"

The boy calmed down slightly and stopped struggling. "Winry, have you completely flipped? How can you possibly not recognize me?"

"Perhaps that's because you're not in your own body," said Winry, "Just tell me your freaking name!"

The boy growled again but didn't try to pull away this time. He then let his breath out in an irritated sigh and then looked into Winry's determined face. "Edward, are you happy?"

All the blood drained out of Winry's face at the sound of that, and her grip involuntarily loosened, sending the boy to the floor, having not expected the loss of support.

"E-Ed? Is that...you?" Winry said, standing above the boy she had moments before thought was only Al having a nervous breakdown.

"Of course it's me!" said the boy as he stood back up and brushed himself off. He extended his arms in her direction and said, "Whose clothes do you think these are?"

Winry could barely see through the dim light in the room, but she knew very well that Al was wearing his own clothes, and not Ed's, but they happened to look a lot alike because of Al's tendency to like to impersonate his brother. Winry sighed. "Th-Those are Al's clothes, Ed. You know he likes to dress like you."

The boy then grabbed the edges of his jacket and gave them a yank for emphasis. "But Al doesn't own a jacket like this. This is clearly mine."

Winry nodded slowly, understanding finally coming to her about the situation at hand. Ed's spirit wasn't aware that he was dead, and since Al was dressed similarly to the way he always dressed, he mistook it for his own body. It almost made sense in a weird sort of way, but how was she going to convince him of that?

Winry cleared her throat and slowly pointed to the jacket. "Uh, Ed..." The boy looked up at her at the mention of the name, as though it was his own, which made Winry shudder at the realization that her guess appeared to have been correct. "You gave your jacket to Al to wear today because it was cold, remember?"

The boy grabbed his jacket with one hand and looked down at the outline of the flap that was just illuminated by the moonlight. "Th-That's right, I did," he said, "When did he give it back?"

"He," said Winry, moistening her lips with her tongue since the words weren't coming to mind as quickly as she wanted them to. "He didn't get the chance to." She sighed and then looked down at the ground. How was he going to react to this next statement? "You died before he could."

"_I_di-" he started to say, pointing to his chest with his thumb, and then shaking his head. "No-No I didn't! I'm still conscious, Winry! I'm talking to you, even! I _can't_ be dead!"

"Ed," said Winry, growing all the more firm in her conviction of what was going on with each passing moment and placing her hands on the boy's shoulders, "You're talking with me because you're in Al's body. I guess that since he was dressed like you, you thought he _was_ you."

"But I'm not...I can't be..." He then brought his right hand up in front of his face, even though he could barely see it in this light, one could still see the color of fair skin if the moonlight hit it just right. "...dead?"

At that moment, Al's expression suddenly changed and his head jerked back. "Brother?"

The facial expression changed just as suddenly back to what it was a moment ago as he said, "...Al?"

Another face change, and the boy said, "Brother...what are you doing in my body?"

At the hearing of this, the boy suddenly lost all the strength in his legs and collapsed to his knees. He crossed his arms over each other and began to shake as though cold. "Al...I...but you...I...I can't be...Al...don't tell me..."

"You're dead, Brother," Al calmly, albeit bluntly, finished for him. "You should've noticed that I have no auto-mail." The boy continued to shake without responding, so Al finally coughed to clear his throat and said, "Brother, if you don't believe me, you can go and look beneath that sheet your body's under."

The boy looked up nervously at Winry, and she kindly extended a hand in the direction of the shivering boy. There was no doubt in her mind as to what was going on now. Ed was for some reason in Al's body and was very scared and confused. Learning that you were dead was probably very frightening for some people. It seemed that Ed was having a hard time accepting it.

"It's okay, Ed, I'll help you up if you want to see."

The boy, who was now recognized as being both Ed and Al in the same body, shakily took Winry's hand and stood up with her supporting him. She guided him over to the body and then just stood there to allow him to do whatever it was he needed to. If he wanted to look at the body, then he could easily lift the cloth himself. She had no inclination to touch it.

Ed shakily reached down and lifted up the cloth just enough to peer underneath it. The light was dim, as would be expected, and since both he and his brother would have been wearing black clothes, it made identification a little bit difficult. Then his eyes fell on the hair on the top of the body's head. It nearly glowed when the moon's beams shone on it. He gasped and allowed the cloth to drop out of his fingers. That had been all he had needed to see. Anyone who knew both boys was aware that Ed's hair was lighter than Al's and would therefore catch the moon's rays better.

For the second time that night, he dropped down to his knees, and just stared straight ahead of him. "Ed..." said Winry, bending down to put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm...dead?" Ed said, not looking at her, or at anything for that matter. "But how can I be...I mean...If I'm dead...why am I still...here?"

"I don't know, Ed," said Winry, rubbing his shoulder gently to try and soothe him somewhat, though she knew that it probably wasn't helping much. "Maybe you just weren't ready to move on."

"I don't want to leave you guys!" said Ed as he closed his eyes and squeezed out a couple tears, which he quickly brushed away. "How can I be of any use to you once I'm dead?"

"Oh, Ed," said Winry as she knelt down next to the boy's body, even though it wasn't really his own, and she turned him to face her. "You don't need to stick around on account of us. We'll manage somehow without you."

Ed sighed. "Then, you don't need me anymore?"

Winry closed her eyes and looked down at the ground. Part of her wanted to say they did, very much, but the other part of her wanted to let him go and move on with his life, or afterlife as the case would be, though he'd probably be hurt by being told he was not needed. What was one to say in a situation like this?

"Brother," Al suddenly said, "We'll always need you. A part of you is inside of us, in our hearts, and we will never be able to let go of that. There would be a void left behind that would not be able to be filled in the event of your absence. But you do not have to be flesh and blood to fill that void. The feeling of your presence, and the reassurance that you are still there, looking out for us, would be more than enough."

Al got no verbal response to his little speech, just an uncontrollable sobbing by the other entity currently in his body. Both Al and Winry certainly understood the pain he was going through. Even though he still existed, he was now on the other side of the veil of death. Both sides, while equally real, were out of touch with each other, and separated loved ones by a hair's breadth. The two had cared so much about each other that they had never given any thought to what would happen if one of them were to pass on before the other, though thinking about it now, it was unlikely that they would both die at exactly the same time. They should have prepared their minds for such a moment as this. But it was too late to dwell on the past, and they would have to just move on.

Al's body suddenly stopped shivering, and his head bobbed briefly as though suddenly losing its support just before Al caught it and held it up under his own strength. He sighed, and then slowly stood up and turned toward Winry. "He...He's gone."

Winry sighed as well and looked at the ground. "I suppose that's best for him." She turned away from Al and looked out the window at the moon that was still shining brightly. "I'm going to miss him though, terribly."

"So will I," said Al, stepping closer and putting a hand on Winry's shoulder. "Let's go home, Winry."

The girl turned back to face Al. "You're actually ready to go now?"

Al half chuckled and looked down at the ground meekly before returning her gaze. "Well, I couldn't bear it before because it had happened so suddenly...but now...well..."

"We got the chance to say goodbye," Winry said, finishing the thought for him. Al nodded in response and tried to smile, though it was a weak one so he didn't get very far.

"Let's go home, Al," said Winry.

* * *

That was the last time either of the two ever spoke to Edward, and they missed his company as they had been accustomed to it. However, they knew he wasn't gone. His presence lingered on in the house as if to say, "I'm still here, watching over you, just like you asked, Al." 

It wasn't until some months later that they realized just how true that was. Winry woke up one morning and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She glanced at the counter, and then turned and ran like mad to Al's room, pounding on the door for him to wake up. When he did, not soon enough by her standards, she dragged him to the kitchen and made him look at what had freaked her out so.

"Did you do that, Al?"

"No, of course I didn't!"

The two stared in utter amazement. The cupboard door just above the counter was open, and an open bag of beans had tipped over, spilling part of it contents out onto the counter. What had astounded them, however, was the fact that the fallen beans had arranged themselves into a recognizable pattern on the counter, spelling the words, "I love you—Ed".

Winry brought a hand up to her face to try and stifle her sobs, but they came through regardless, particularly when joined by a few rogue tears that refused to stay in her eyes where they belonged. Al smiled along with her, and soon joined her in dripping salt water out of his eyes.

The boy suddenly opened his mouth and said, "I told you that I would make you cry tears of joy...It just wasn't as soon as I thought."

Winry gasped and turned to look at Al, and Al himself had taken on a look of shock with his jaw dropped open.

"Winry," he said, "I swear, I didn't say that!"

"I know," said Winry, wiping tears from her eyes, "That was a promise Ed made to me a long time ago, that the next time he made me cry, they would be tears of joy. I suppose you didn't remember, but he obviously did."

Al half-smiled, doing the best he could through the tears, even though they were pleasant ones, "Yes, he obviously did." He then closed his eyes and whispered, "I love you too, Brother. I eagerly await the day I can see you again."

Winry then took Al's hand, and they stepped back from the counter to view the message from that perspective and enjoy it for a few minutes. "Let's just leave it that way for a couple days, okay Al?"

"That's fine with me," said Al. With that, they both turned to smile at each other, and then they left the room, their mood set for the day ahead, or rather the entire week. The veil of death wasn't very wide. Ed was still very much alive on the other side of it, and one day they would see him again for sure.

_**I hope that was good. The ending was a little tricky, heh. Anyway, does anyone have any ideas for any other ghost stories? I'm open to ones about people other than Ed if I can get inspired enough, hehe. If you have a good idea that inspires me, I'll write up a story and give you credit for the original idea...supposing I don't take so long that I no longer even remember who gave it. Grrr...me and my memory. Heh, anyway, hopefully that won't happen a second time. So, hope to see you all soon!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Okay, for no reason at all I decided to write this so I could take a break from my novel without taking a break from writing in general, hehe. Yes, I know this plot is totally cliche, but that was the whole point, hehe. I study urban legends, and I always thought this one in particular was cool, so I decided to dramatize and FMAize it. Those of you who study urban legends as well will know exactly where this story is going from the first couple paragraphs, but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway, hehe. The rest of you will probably have no clue what is happening, so you'll get the nice element of surprise, even though my plot is so unoriginal. ((laughs))**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoy, cliche and all, hehe.**_

_**Disclaimer: Fullmetal I own Alchemist don't. Make sense out of that if you will.**_

Mary Lee ground her teeth as she peered through the windshield at the road. On a night like tonight, the darkness was so thick that it was like she was moving through a homogenous substance, and her headlights didn't want to work properly when the darkness was not staying within its own confines. That was something that got annoyed her every time she went down this road on such a night. There was no moon, no stars, and it was starting to rain, but she needed to get home. If only she hadn't had to take that last call at the clinic for an emergency patient, she wouldn't have had to go down this street after dark. A nurse's life really sucked sometimes.

Her eyes snapped wide open as a figure appeared in her light beam, and she jammed her break pedal into the floor, but it was a moment too late, and she heard and felt a strong "Oof!" on the hood of her car. Oh no, oh no...she hadn't just hit somebody, there was no way that a nurse could hit somebody with their car!

Without thinking, she threw open her door and was out of the car to inspect whatever she had hit. She hoped it had just been a deer and not a human being. Please don't let it be a human being. She took a deep breath and ventured toward the front of her car and looked down at the ground, and her face turned white. A boy with long blond hair, he looked no older than about twelve or thirteen, lay unconscious on the road.

Mary waved her hands in a panic, her nurse's training not coming to mind during this critical moment. She had hit somebody, and she was going to be in so much trouble. She had to calm down. She could only help the poor boy if she didn't get frantic about it. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes as she pressed her hand over her forehead and thought. If he was unconscious, she needed to avoid moving the person and just call for help. She grit her teeth as she realized that would be impossible, because the stretch of Highway 41 they were on was in the middle of nowhere, and her cell phone had been forgotten at work. What a time to be careless. She rolled her eyes and looked for another option.

She sighed. The only other option was to put the boy in her car and take him to the hospital herself. She was a nurse, so she could provide first aid without a problem. She could even recognize problems that basic first aid wouldn't cover and help the doctor once she arrived, but her assistance wouldn't be as good as what an ambulance could provide. All the same, it was her best option, her only option, so she reached down and gently picked the boy up and began to walk back to her car.

In the few steps to her car, the boy opened his eyes and looked at her. "What happened?"

Mary breathed an audible sigh of relief, though her fears were far from gone. "I'm afraid I hit you with my car. Don't worry, I'll take you to the hospital and they'll get you all fixed up."

The boy moaned. "No...want to go home."

Mary frowned. This boy needed help, but she didn't want to deny him of seeing his family either. Could she reconcile the two needs? Maybe his home was nearby and his family had a phone, which would allow him to ride in an ambulance to the hospital instead of in her car.

"Where is your home?" she asked.

"Just a mile up the road."

Mary nodded and promised she'd take him home so she could call for proper help from there, then she set him in the back seat and buckled him in before getting back in her seat.

She gripped the steering wheel harder than necessary. That boy must have been going into shock, he was so cold. He needed help _now_. She hoped taking him home was the right choice, and that he could get help sooner if she did. If only she didn't live out in the boondocks, this situation wouldn't be so difficult.

She set the car in motion and again squinted to see ahead of her. The nighttime thickness hadn't changed at all, and she was now paranoid about hitting random kids in the street. She knew she had to drive faster for this boy's sake, but she didn't want to risk anyone else's lives either. It was a paradox.

Mary turned around and looked at the boy in the back seat. He was still conscious and was doing fine for the most part, despite having been hit by a car. She should take advantage of his current state to get as much information as she could, since he might not be conscious later when she needed that information. "Um, son," she said, "would you mind telling me your name?"

"Edward."

A one word answer. He didn't seem very talkative, but at least he had answered without a fuss. "How old are you, Edward?"

"Fifteen."

Mary nodded and licked her lips, not sure what else to say. He wasn't keeping information from her, but he wasn't volunteering it either, and that did make her job a bit more challenging. "Um...okay, Edward, what were you doing out in the street?"

"I don't know."

She pursed her lips. This was getting them nowhere, but at least the boy was still conscious, and they were near his home, so he would be able to get help soon.

"Edward, where exactly do you live?"

"The next house to the right."

She nodded her affirmation and made the appropriate lane change so she could turn as soon as she found a driveway. Sure enough, a driveway appeared in her field of vision, and she turned off the road onto the gravel driveway and drove toward a house she could not see off in the distance. That was such an odd thing about country houses, they were often built away from the road and had long driveways. She hadn't lived in the country for long, so it still seemed strange to her.

Finally the house came into view, and she stopped the car and turned to help Edward out, but he had already unbuckled himself and was out the door, running toward the house without even a word of thanks. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Maybe she could give him a bit of leeway in the politeness department when he had just gotten hit by a car and had probably sustained a concussion, but she still needed to call for help.

"Wait," she said, "May I use your phone?"

Edward stopped, turned to face her, and said, "Sorry, we don't have a phone."

Mary sighed and gripped her steering wheel again. If they didn't have a phone, then she would go to the next door neighbor's and borrow theirs. That boy needed help, even though he was managing quite well under the circumstances. One never knew if there would be complications.

As she began to pull out of the driveway, she saw Edward draw the curtains back on the window in the front of the house, and she could see into the dining room. He took off the red coat he had been wearing and placed it on the dining room chair just before pulling the chair out and sitting down in it and resting his forehead on the table. The poor guy was exhausted from the whole ordeal. She would get help as soon as possible.

A moment later, she was out of the long driveway and back on the main street looking for the next driveway so she could use neighbor's phone. Soon, she saw one and pulled into it. As soon as she stopped, she sprang out of her car and ran to the front door and pounded on it until someone answered.

She found herself staring at a rather large middle aged man who looked nonplussed at having had his sleep disturbed, but she wasn't about to let that deter her when there a life was at stake. "I'm sorry," she said, "But may I please borrow your phone? I just hit the boy next door with my car, and I need to call for an ambulance."

The man narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "What are you talking about?"

Mary threw her arms out in front of her. "What do you _think_ I'm talking about? There's a boy next door who is in serious need of medical treatment, but I don't have a phone and neither does he. Please, may I use your phone?"

The man shook his head. "You're lying. My neighbor is a gray-haired old widow who has no children living with her." The man gestured toward the neighbor's house on the other side of his property, and Mary rolled her eyes.

"Not that one, the other one." She pointed toward the right. "The one who lives over there has a child living with them who is in serious need of help."

By this point, the man looked incredulous. "What are you on, ma'am? That house burned down fifty years ago!"

Mary's eyes grew wide at that statement, but she didn't believe a word of it. She knew what she had seen. "That's not true! I just picked the boy up and delivered him there!"

The man stepped outside of his house. "Show me."

"But what about your phone?"

"Show me first," he said, "If what you say is true, I'll let you use my phone."

"But the boy-"

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her sternly. "Show me." Mary swallowed and obeyed.

The two climbed into her car and she pulled back out onto the road, once again found the boy's driveway and drove all the way up to the house. As soon as she reached it, however, she didn't bother to even turn off the car as she bolted out of it and ran up to the house, or what was left of it. The place was in ruins. It appeared as though the house had taken a bout of flames sometime in the past, and it hadn't been recent. She grabbed a board that stuck up toward her and felt it give in her hand, a sign of severe weather wear. Upon releasing it, she felt the grit of ash clinging to her hand.

"I—I don't understand. What happened?"

The man cleared his throat and stepped up beside her. "Like I said, ma'am, this place has been like this for the past fifty years. This is where the Elric brothers used to live, and they burned it down on their own accord."

Mary didn't respond to that. She didn't know what to say, and she grasped at the piece of charred wood once again. "Is it possible that any of their kids are still around?"

The man shook his head. "No, ma'am. They all died off one by one, the last one somewhere around here. Edward, I think it was."

Mary tensed at the name. That was what the boy had identified himself as, and now it had been confirmed that there had indeed been an Edward who had lived here, but that had been long ago, and she had seen this Edward just tonight. What was going on?

"Edward..." she said, "That...That's the name the boy gave me."

The man paused in his speech, and this made Mary nervous. Did he think she was crazy? Even she wondered that now, so she couldn't blame him if he thought that. Things like this didn't happen to sane people.

"Did he...have a red coat?"

Mary blinked and looked up at the man, and her jaw hung open. "Y-Yes he did...what does that mean?"

The man closed his eyes and sighed. "Edward Elric was killed on this very street many years ago, and on nights like this, many drivers have reported finding him and him asking them to take him home."

Her eyes widened as she stared at the man. Surely he hadn't just said that. She had not just seen and helped a dead person! "I—I don't even believe in ghosts."

The man shrugged. "It seems he believed in you." The man then pointed to something illuminated by the car's headlights, and Mary's curiosity piqued as she walked toward it. She crawled over the ruins of the house to find a single chair beside a dining table. She gulped as she stared at the sight before her. Hung over the back of the chair was a bright red coat.

_**Okay, hehe, I'm probably going to start writing more of these for my off days when I can't work on my novel since I really love ghost stories. Are there any requests? I'd be happy to fill them if I get enough inspiration to go along with it. Let me know what you think, and see you next time!**_


End file.
